Comment on Logitech has an idea for a “forever mouse” that requires a subscription
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 1 month agoYeah it’s a horrible idea in all the usual ways, but hear me out. What if Logitech figures out a way to provide actual value to the customer? What if you get a new mouse every year if you send the old one back? That way, you would be paying a subscription for always having the latest mouse. Probably not something I would do, but someone who has more money might appreciate a service like that.
I have to question in what world one would need “the latest mouse” every year. The only reason is if Logitech makes such a crap mouse that it starts to fall apart, thus necessitating a new one.
The only other avenue is that the mouse just gets more and more bloated with additional “features” year-on-year.
The principle isn’t the worst, but the implications are less than ideal
There are people who buy a new phone every years, even though they don’t really need to. Why wouldn’t the same philosophy apply to some people who are enthusiastic about computer hardware? Actually, when it comes to CPUs and video cards, it already does.
But anyway, even though the customer could get some perceived benefit from this arrangement, the company would still benefit more from the perpetually rising stock value. You know the usual capitalist mentality that would drive this sort of innovation and product development.
Because mice are a solved problem. New phones can ostensibly have new features, better cameras, better displays, etc. Similarly, new cards and CPUs can give you measurably better performance.
A new mouse is something you get when your old mouse is broken, and if that’s happening every year, then there’s a big problem.
BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
Well the mice would be ergonomically different so they would all need getting used to, and you know the waste of shipping and throwing away a perfectly good mouse every year to get a new one.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
If I made a service like that, I would require the customer to send the old one back every year. Then the company could sell the refurbished mice instead of throwing them away.